When I first heard De-Loused In The Comatorium, I refused to call it just an album. It took me places I had dreamed of and inscribed those images into reality, it made me think about things the world never cared to teach me, it filled a void in my life that I had always wanted to be filled, yet I'm supposed to refer to it as just an album? Likewise, The Mars Volta was an era to me, and seeing that era end has made my heart sink way more than I ever expected.

Twitter is both my favorite and my least favorite thing to happen to the internet. I've said that in an album review before, but it really came to life last night, getting to hear directly from Cedric Bixler-Zavala why the band was ending, seeing his wife tell the truth about Omar Rodriguez-Lopez that deep down we all knew, and seeing Thomas Pridgen's immature reactions when we all know he's only gotten public recognition for formerly being a part of the band. It hurts watching your heroes turn into villains, but it's so refreshing to know the truth. It's refreshing to know that Cedric cared about his fans enough to not let Omar run a misinformation campaign.

Nevertheless, the presentation of the message could never hurt as much as the message. I feel like such a large chapter of my life has come into an end. I have loved bands before The Mars Volta, I have had favorite bands before The Mars Volta, but they gave me my own visions. They weren't just a band I listened to because I liked their music, they were a band I absorbed into my own reality, which is why I became so bitter towards people who hated them just because "they weren't At The Drive-In", people who tried to keep the music from having such an impact on me because it wasn't the same as a post-hardcore band that I also loved.

I'm always going to remember those years of driving around listening to The Mars Volta albums, going to see them at the Palladium where Evan Gordon "accidentally killed a guy", listening to Matt Boldt play "Asilos Magdalena" on guitar as I sang about Taco Bell because I don't know Spanish. But even more than those memories, I'm still going to see the things I saw when I first heard De-Loused, or Frances, or Noctourniquet, any of their albums. I'm still going to have those vivid images of my own world. Those notes and melodies and lyrics are still going to be so much more than that to me. I'm still going to have my home, and for that, I want to thank The Mars Volta for all the music they've made over the years. I want to thank Cedric for being my biggest musical inspiration. I want to thank Omar, even though he's the cause of all of this, I owe him for making this music a reality. I want to thank Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, Juan Alderete, Jon Theodore, Thomas, Deantoni Parks, Flea, John Frusciante, Rick Rubin, anyone who has ever contributed to the music of The Mars Volta in any way, shape, or form. I want to thank Matt Boldt for introducing me to them. I thank you all, for creating this reality for me, and I hope you know I will embrace it for years to come.